Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Services First from London

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Rich Waldron, Co-founder and CEO of Tray.io, was building an authentic tech company from London when we spoke in 2020. While the company could have become a so-called Unicorn by loading up on liquidation preferences, they chose not to do so. Excellent story.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Rich Waldron: I was born in the UK in a place called Southampton, which is right down on the South Coast. Its most famous claim to fame is where the Titanic set off from. I was born there 35 years ago.

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Featured Videos

Catching Up On Readings: Humanoid Robotics

This report from CB Insights analyzes the humanoid robotics market that is driven by advancements in AI, pilot programs demonstrating commercial viability, and significant investment from big tech. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Colors: La Nuit XI

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – La Nuit XI

La Nuit XI | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Ink | 8  x 8, On Paper

Video FAQs

Colors: La Nuit X

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – La Nuit X

La Nuit X | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Ink | 8  x 8, On Paper

March 28 – 635th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 635th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/4 p.m. CET/8:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

634th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

Roundtable Recap: March 7 – Do Not Reinvent the Wheel

During this week’s roundtable, we had four different discussions on startup strategy. In multiple cases, I see new entrepreneurs trying to ‘wing’ a startup process. Well, startup methodology exists. Please learn how to apply existing methodology. Do not reinvent the wheel.

TeammateMe

First Daniel Armani from Fremont, California, pitched TeammateMe. This is a classic chicken and egg situation. I don’t believe the strategy that was pitched will work.

Laztwordz

Next, Arun SP from Bengaluru, India, pitched Laztwordz. The idea needs a validation strategy and a GTM with velocity. I recommended two of my newly released Udemy courses:

Validation for Tech Startups by Sramana Mitra

B2B Sales Strategy for Tech Startups by Sramana Mitra

Unihub

Then, Rajmund Stolarczyk from Stettin, Poland, pitched Unihub. Here too, those two courses on Validation and B2B Sales Strategy would offer invaluable structure.

Beunik

From Envigado, Colombia, Andres Dominguez pitched Beunik. I recommended a switch in mindset from B-to-C to B-to-B.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Cloud Stocks: Analysis of Workday’s HiredScore Acquisition

Enterprise services provider Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY) recently announced mixed fourth quarter results. It continues to expand its AI capabilities through both product development and acquisitions.